DURHAM, N.C. — No matter who the opponent has been, almost every game NC State men’s basketball has played during its ACC slate has come down to the waning minutes. Whether the opponent has been bottom dwellers in the ACC like Virginia Tech and Virginia or tonight against No. 2 Duke, the Wolfpack has been in every game, but it has been on the wrong side nearly every time.
With just over three minutes left in the game, NC State (9-11, 2-7 ACC) was down 65-62 to the No. 2 team in the country in a game where it was a 20-point underdog. Then, the Blue Devils (18-2,10-0 ACC) closed the game on a 9-2 run to secure a 74-64 victory Monday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
In eight of NC State men’s basketball’s nine ACC contests, the game has been within one possession with under four minutes to go, but the Wolfpack has only come out on top twice. It hasn’t been the same problems that have doomed the Pack late in games either.
Against Virginia Tech and Virginia, NC State blew double-digit second-half leads. Against SMU, California, UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke, the offense sputtered at the end. When asked postgame what has been the issue with closing out games, head coach Kevin Keatts did think there was a common theme.
“We don’t have a superstar,” Keatts said. “We’ve got a bunch of really good players that obviously need each other to play well, and so we don’t have that closer in every game.”
Duke does have that superstar. Blue Devils freshman forward Cooper Flagg — the projected No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA draft — nearly outscored the Wolfpack in the second half. After being held to just five points on 2-7 shooting in the first half, Flagg scored 23 points in the final frame, and when Duke needed a bucket down the stretch, the strategy was simple: give Flagg the ball and get out of the way.
“Cooper is as good as advertised and I think he’s the difference in the game,” Keatts said. “If I got Cooper Flagg, I may win that too.”
The closest thing the Wolfpack had to Flagg was a freshman who had only been averaging 10 minutes a game. Guard Trey Parker scored a career-high 15 points and became the Wolfpack’s go-to scorer in the second half.
Parker scored the Wolfpack’s first points of the second half nearly eight minutes into the final frame and scored 10 of the team’s first 16 points in the final 20 minutes. He hit contested 3-pointers and made tough drives to the rim, a sign that Parker could become that guy Keatts is looking for to close out games.
“He’s been very focused lately and his work showed tonight,” said senior guard Dontrez Styles. “He’s got to keep building on it. I’m proud of him.”
If NC State could’ve capitalized on its near-perfect first half then it never would’ve needed a player to step up in clutch time. It couldn’t have scripted a much better start. It got out to a double-digit lead in the first half, quieting the Cameron Crazies. It made seven of its 12 3-point attempts after coming into the game ranked nationally in the 300s in 3-pointers made per game and percentage. Flagg was held in check, but the Blue Devils ended the half on a 7-0 run that essentially undid all the good the Pack did in the first half.
The momentum carried over to the second half for the Blue Devils as they extended that 7-0 run to a 19-0 run to go up 45-37. During that key stretch, Parker felt like the Wolfpack wasn’t playing as hard as it did to start the game.
“It was just dirty work,” Parker said. “We just got to box out, rebound and go for loose balls.”
What’s been the most frustrating part for the Wolfpack during its ACC schedule is that it has been doing more than enough to win. It has held the top three scoring teams in the conference well under their scoring averages — SMU, UNC and Duke — but lost all three. It’s really just come down to making one or two plays at the end of the game and the Wolfpack somehow has rarely been able to make it.
It’s a demoralizing way to lose games. Still, both Styles and Parker were optimistic that the Pack was close to turning a corner, especially after it had a national championship contender on the ropes. With no chance of making the NCAA Tournament with an at-large bid, NC State’s only option is to focus on how to close games to give itself a chance to pull off a similar miracle as last year when it won the ACC Championship with no shot of getting into the NCAA Tournament without it.
“Losing is tough,” Keatts said. “I think we’re playing better. We just got to get over the hump and we will. I don’t know when it’ll happen but we’ll get over the hump.”
NC State’s next chance to get over the hump will come against Clemson, which is second in the ACC behind Duke. Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
